About 20 to 30 children under age 12 who are in the United States illegally will call an Emsworth children's institute home until they are reunited with their families or find sponsor families in the United States.

Holy Family Institute has been in Emsworth since 1900 and regularly provides counseling, education and energy assistance services for thousands of abused, neglected or special-needs children and/or families in the area. The Catholic-based facility recently opened a Catholic school as well and also works with Pressley Ridge, a facility for children with autism or hearing disabilities.

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In the past few weeks, Sister Linda Yankoski said her facility and other residential facilities received requests to care for some of these nearly 60,000 undocumented children who crossed into the United States. She said they did not respond to the request right away, but eventually agreed to help.

"Quite frankly, we felt our conscience twitch. We had space, expertise and we're Catholic. It's our faith, it's our ministry," Yankoski said. "They could be here 30 days, 45 days. Most of these shelters, from what I understand, that's about the top length of stay."

Yankoski said the Department of Health and Human Services will reimburse Holy Family for all costs during the children's stay.

Yankoski said the children will stay at Holy Family until they are reunited in their home countries with their families or find sponsor families in the states. She said they will first accept 20 children but could increase the amount to 30. Yankoski added all children will have undergone physical and mental health screenings before arriving on campus.

"It's our ministry to reach out to children in need, and right now there are a number of children in need that are crossing the border and are looking for a safe haven," Yankoski said, adding the facility is looking to hire several bilingual employees to assist.

Mayor Dee Quinn said over the phone Wednesday she has received three to four phone calls from residents concerned about the children staying in Emsworth. Quinn declined further comment until meeting with Yankoski late Wednesday afternoon.

"The local community will hardly know they are here. They will not see them. If they do go out for any recreational activities, they will be fully staffed by us under our watchful eye, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Yankoski said.

Some residents have expressed concern not for their families safety, but for the larger issue of taxpayer's money funding undocumented immigrants.

"We have to do something about it. We have to make sure everybody is safe here first and then take care of everybody else after that. Take care of our own first," said Rob Bennett.

"The root causes need to be addressed. These children deserve to live freely in health, good health with their families in their own countries. So for whatever reasons, in the reasons of violence and the drug wars or whatever is impacting these young people to leave, I would hope those root causes will be dealt with," Yankoski said. "It's a complicated issue. All we know is there are children who need services right now, we have the means and the ability, and we want to help."